Knowledge societies: power, justice and governance

From the dual formulation of the knowledge problem as one where scientific explanation and policy making are at odds, to the re-formulation of the problem in terms of universal human rights, the chapter reviews prominent perspectives of knowledge and power. The democracy of knowledge emerges as a distributed cognitive republic, where both epistemic capacity and decision-making engage all stakeholders. Consequently, there is a need for an extended peer community where science and other sources of actionable knowledge can be thoroughly scrutinized. As a prerequisite to establishing the universal right to knowledge, epistemic justice requires decolonization. Hence, knowledge governance is enabled by an appropriate global regime and effective knowledge citizenship. Additionally, knowledge-based governance for the Anthropocene requires a multi-level, flexible epistemological and political framework, for which the capital system appears particularly well suited. The alignment of global knowledge system will require the resonance of all knowledge agents, objects, and contexts.